Whereas, the intent of GAR #116 to protect the environment was noble ,and
Whereas, GAR# 116 failed to regulate nuclear waste disposal nationally, while making international recycling impossible, and
Whereas, it would be advisable to note that this failure causes GAR #116 to actually damage the goals it set out to protect, and
Whereas, it is impossible to replace it with something more capable as long as it remains,
The General Assembly of the W.A.
Hereby repeals GAR #116, Nuclear Waste Safety Act.
Q&A
Why repeal GAR #116?
Well, the reason is twofold. First and formeost, the legislation all but outlaws transferring nuclear waste between nations as the waste must never be "diverted from perpetual storage". This means that nuclear waste cannot be removed even if it has decayed to levels that are harmless, as occurs on a quick basis with short lived radioactive material. It also in no way requires that member states deal with nuclear waste in a safe and reasonable manner assuming it is their own nuclear waste and is stored in their own borders.
What is so bad about not regulating domestic nuclear waste in the borders of a nation?
The key problem is that, like with any other form of waste, nuclear waste can leak and cause damage to others outside the borders of the respective nation. This obviously is a problem that must be addressed with full and comprehensive legislation with requirements equal to that of the requirements for transferring nuclear waste. And while GAR #116 alone does not prevent that, a combined national-international nuclear waste storage act would be preferable to holding national and international nuclear waste storage to two different standards when both face the same problems.
Why is it a problem that nuclear waste cannot be transferred between nations?
It is a problem because some nations can recycle nuclear waste and are willing to do so, so to them the transfer is an obvious benefit with almost no trade-offs. Multiple small nations might also want to send their spent fuel to a larger country to be recycled into new fuel as they only need a few reactors and a full scale reprocessing facility would cost too much. But due to GAR #116 excessive restrictions are levied against those that might accept nuclear waste and recycle it for profit are such that it makes that endeavor all but impossible, while no restrictions are applied to those that produce that nuclear waste domestically, in fact domestic nuclear waste can be disposed of even in unsafe and dangerous manners.
If you would like to ask any other questions pertaining to the concept behind this repeal, please TG me or simply post in this thread.
